


Sea Salt and Rose Petals

by claudiasgothgf



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, F/F, Fluff, Gay Panic, Idiots in Love, Mutual Pining, Pining, Slow Burn, Surfing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 12:43:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17508854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/claudiasgothgf/pseuds/claudiasgothgf
Summary: "As she grew closer, she noticed that the figure was wearing a pink, flowing dress. She allowed her focus to slip from her surfing to this person. They waved. Now Mermista was definitely perplexed. If any passers by ever stopped to watch her surf, they never waved."In which the stoic surfer Mermista loses her cool over the lovely new flower shop owner, and the antics that ensue.





	Sea Salt and Rose Petals

The waves lapped gently at the shoreline, led in by the softest sea breeze to ghost over the sand. Above, the rising sun cast its warm golden rays onto everything in sight as it slowly climbed above the line of the horizon. Mermista relished the sight.

She made her way across the already warming sand, her aqua blue surfboard tucked under her arm, and stopped just where the waves ended. For a while, she just let the cool water wash over her bare feet before it retreated back. Her dark eyes followed the foamy tops lurch forward and back, forward and back. Then she walked a few steps into the water and rested the board down on the surface of the water before laying herself stomach first down on it. She remained like that for a few seconds before propelling herself forward with her arms.

There was nothing quite like a summer morning’s surf, and she always made sure to arrive just after dawn. The beach was devoid of loud families and suffocating crowds then, so she had time to just be at peace in the water.

When she felt she had enough momentum, Mermista rose slowly to her feet on the board. A small smile crossed her face as the sea breeze met her face and tousled the loose, blue hair of her braid. She was never more at peace than when she was on her board, riding the waves as they rose to a crescendo.

It was like she was in her own little bubble, untouched and undisturbed by the affairs of the outside world. The princess of her own, isolated oceanic kingdom.

As she guided the board in an arc towards the shore, she noticed a figure on the sand. It wasn't unusual to see people this early, of course. There were plenty of shops and stalls along the pier that needed to be opened bright and early. What was unusual, however, was that this figure seemed to be watching her. Mermista wasn't used to an audience.

As she grew closer, she noticed that the figure was wearing a pink, flowing dress. She allowed her focus to slip from her surfing to this person. They waved. Now Mermista was definitely perplexed. If any passers by ever stopped to watch her surf, they never waved.

As Mermista's attention was glued to the stranger, she failed to notice her board wavering beneath her. She was growing dangerously close to the shallow water and the rocks that lay in it. The surface of her board collided with a larger one, and by the time she had realised she was already falling towards the water.

Her board slid out from beneath her feet, sending her crashing at once to the seabed. The waves slammed down over her like a ton of bricks. Shock set in, and for a moment she couldn't do anything. Mermista _never_ fell. A distorted cry of shock from the surface is what snapped her back to reality, and she dragged herself up through the foam. Pains in her calves told her that the rocks would leave her with a few bruises the next day.

When she broke through the water, she gasped for air and violently coughed up saltwater through the dense curtain of hair that now covered her face. With her lungs burning, she crawled forward until she reached dry sand, at which point a pair of warm and dry hands grasped her shoulders.

‘Oh my god, are you alright?' The voice that spoke was light and laced with concern. Embarrassment suddenly flooded Mermista. She reasoned that the voice and hands most likely belonged to the person in pink who had been watching her. The person who had watched her fall and splutter like a fish out of water. She hurried to move the hair from her face, scowling as she did so. 

_How the hell did I manage to fall?_

‘I'm... fine, thanks.’ She managed to mumble.

The girl kneeling on the sand looking at her was, in Mermista’s opinion, practically a goddess.

Blonde, curly hair framed a tanned and lovely face, from which a pair of equally lovely dark eyes regarded her with concern. It took an embarrassingly long time for her to notice that she was even staring. But unfortunately for her, the same couldn't be said for a certain someone.

‘Are you sure you're okay? You look very spaced out… what if you have a concussion?!’

Mermista's face flushed deeply. Well, at least it was mistaken for the effects of a head injury instead of awe.

‘No, It's okay. I probably just need to sit down.’ She tried her best to sound assuring as she grasped for her freely floating board

‘Please, let me take you back to my shop. It's probably my fault that you fell… I shouldn't have distracted you- sorry about that.’ As she spoke, the seemingly guardian angel rose and extended a hand.

 _“My shop.” So that's why she was out so early,_ Mermista thought.

The now fully risen sun illuminated her figure. Tall and delicate with a sweet smile on her face,she was clad in a soft pink dress that was decorated with flowers of a matching hue along the off-shoulder sleeves. Sand peppered the lower half of it now, but it took nothing away from it’s, and the wearers’, beauty.

Tucking the board under her arm, Mermista took her soft hand soundlessly, and was surprised at the strength with which she was pulled to her feet. Now, Mermista herself was beginning to question whether she had, in fact, suffered a concussion upon impact with the seabed. This encounter was all far too ethereal to be reality.

‘Now then, let's get you sitting down and-’ The lovely girl's eyes widened. ‘Dry! You're soaking wet, you must be freezing!’

Mermista would have pointed out how warm it was cut off by more worrying.

‘I'll get you some towels, and a hot cup of tea, and- oh! Clothes! I'll have to find you some spare clothes!’

Mermista finally brought herself to get a word in, once her astonishment at being fussed over so much had subsided.

‘You, uh, really don't have to do all that. I have some clothes in my car… but tea does sound nice.’ It really didn't. Mermista was more of a black coffee person, she just wanted an excuse to spend more time with the angel next to her… who was still holding her hand. They were holding hands. 

‘Great! I'll get some ready as soon as we get- Oh! I haven't even introduced myself yet! I'm Perfuma.’

The sound of her name managed to snap Mermista out of the trance of staring at their interlocked hands. Perfuma. That was a beautiful, heavenly name. The whole goddess thing was seeming more and more possible by the second.

‘Wow. I'm Mermista.’ Admittedly, the “wow” hadn't been intentional.

‘Mermista,’ Perfuma repeated, as if she were testing how it sounded. It didn't seem like she had noticed the slip up. ‘that's a beautiful name! Now, let's get you warmed up!’ She began to walk forward towards the promenade, leading her guest behind her.

 _She thinks my name is beautiful._ Was the only thought that echoed through Mermista's brain as she was led swiftly over the sand and onto the pavement. The concrete was warming under her bare feet, and she predicted that by midday it would be roasting.

After a few more moments, she found herself in front of a large shop. It had a perfect view of the beach, which was imperative to any potential shop owners, and the front of it was absolutely covered with flowers. A sign on the freshly painted pastel pink wall next to the door proclaimed its name to be “Blooming Blossoms.”

Perfuma pushed the door open and slipped inside, being greeted by the tinkling of a bell from somewhere above the door frame. As Mermista followed, she felt as if she had wandered into a secret garden. Obviously a flower shop is going to hold quite a lot of flowers, but Mermista had never seen a shop so full of them. On every visible surface there were vases, basins and pots filled with flowers. Lilies, roses, orchids, succulents, lavender, plumerias and god knows how many others. The floor was scattered with petals and the smell of all the flowers combined was so sweet that it was practically the only thing she could register. Persephone herself could never have seen so many flowers in a single room.

But she wasn't given a chance to stop a smell the roses, so to speak, as she was quickly taken through a door behind the counter and into a different room. This room appeared to be a kitchen with a small stove, microwave, kettle, sink, cupboards and a fridge. Beside said fridge was a white door that probably, Mermista believed, led to Olympus. On the small dining table in the centre of the floor, there sat a large glass vase of sunflowers.

Perfuma pulled out a chair at the table and gestured for Mermista to sit. She placed her board against the chair beside her as she did so, and cringed at the wet footprints she had left across the floor, and at the water that would undoubtedly be left on the chair. When she looked up from the floor, her host had gone, leaving the door next to the fridge open wide. Mermista leant across the table to see through it, and was met with a set of stairs. Above her, light footsteps danced across the floorboards.

The next thing she knew, the steps were approaching and then descending the stairs. Within a few moments, Perfuma stepped into view. She held a small towel in one hand and a larger one in the other.

“Here we go!”

She draped the smaller towel over Mermista's head before wrapping the large one around her shoulders. The soft fabric smelled of laundry detergent- lavender, perhaps- and Mermista wrapped the towel around her shoulders more tightly against her. One hand darted out to pull the towel on her head away from her eyes, and as she did she noticed Perfuma standing at the sink, filling the kettle. 

"What kind of tea would you like?" 

 _Shit. What do I say?_ She hadn't thought that far ahead. 

"Uh... What do you have?" 

Perfuma turned off the tap, placed it down on its stand and turned it on with a soft  **click**. Then, she reached up and opened a cupboard above her head and tilted her head upwards as she peered into it. Her blonde hair cascaded down her back as she did so. 

'Let's see... chai, English breakfast, green tea...'

Mermista jumped at the first one she recognised. 'English breakfast!' It was the favourite of Angella, her friend Glimmer's mum... and she really hadn't meant to shout it that loudly. 

 _Oh my god. Could I have been any more awkward?_  If Glimmer or Adora were there (or, god forbid, both of them), Mermista knew she'd never hear the end of it.

'Good choice.'

Mermista turned back around and put her hands over her face. From behind her, she heard the sound of the cupboard door being closed, then a cup being put down and finally that of water being poured.

She removed her hands from her face and put them to her hair, trying to make it seem like she had been drying herself instead of wallowing in the embarrassment of awkwardness. Where had it come from? Usually, Mermista was never awkward. She was cool, composed and rarely rattled. But then again, so far this had been anything but a usual day, let alone morning. 

 _Morning._  

With that word, a wave of realisation finally hit Mermista. She was sitting in the backroom of a shop, on a Monday morning. A shop that definetly needed to be opened for business. 

Perfuma returned to the table and set the steaming cup down in front of her.

'What time do you open at?'

Perfuma blinked as if she didn't understand the question that she was being asked. Then her eyes widened.

'I completely forgot! I open at nine...' she paused to look down at a delicate golden watch on her left wrist.

Mermista hadn't even noticed it before. But then again, she had been somewhat distracted.

'It's half eight.'

 _Already?_ It seemed like half an hour at least had passed since their first interaction on the shore.

'I should probably get going... thanks, though.' Mermista pulled the towels from her body and placed them unceremoniously down on the table.

'But your tea!' 

Perfuma seemed genuinely saddened by the though of Mermista leaving. It pulled at the girl's heartstrings. 

'Maybe next time? My treat?' Mermista offered. Only "next time" would be at a coffee shop. She wouldn't have drunk the tea anyway. 

Perfuma's face lit up with a brilliant smile. It brought a flush to Mermista's face. 

'Sounds great!'

Mermista nodded, then stood up and grabbed her board. 'Cool. See you then.' Now, she was beginning to sound more like herself.

She made her way back through the main shop, fallen petals sticking to her damp feet as she did so. It was only after she'd stepped outside that she realised.

_Did I just... ask her out?_

She had asked Perfuma out without knowing it in her desperation to see the sad look gone from her face. And Perfuma had said yes.

_But if I asked her out without knowing it... does she know it's a date? Should I go back and ask- no. Absolutely not. It's fine. It's cool. It's just going to be coffee... But what if she knows it's a date? Jesus, I sound like Sea Hawk._

All of these thoughts circled her head as she practically sprinted back to her car, ignoring the curious looks that passers by threw her way. As she finally reached her car, she flung her board into the backseat and then jumped into the driver's. Without thinking, she reached into the glove box and grabbed her phone. In less than a minute, she had gone through her contacts and hit dial. 

**Beep beep. Beep beep. Beep beep-**

_Come on, come on._ Mermista's free hand tapped on the steering wheel impatiently.

**Beep beep. Beep beep. Beep-**

**_'Mermista?'_** The voice on the other end asked through a yawn.

'Glimmer, you are not gonna believe this.'

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my fic, and trust me there's lots more to come. If you could, please tell me what you thought of it and leave a kudos because it would really make my day!!


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